The Life of a Rich Girl
by LilMissCandy
Summary: Leah Stone has lived her whole life with foster families, and her dream is to one day meet her long lost sister, who was separated from her when they were young. Follow her story, as she and her friends find her sister, and end up recruited to CHERUB.
1. Liam

**Hey! This is LilMissCandy – formerly known as "Gasher" – with my new story, "The Life of a Rich Girl". This story is not an on-going series like my other story. It follows the story of two girl's lives before they get recruited. Other CHERUB characters and scenes with the setting on campus will take place near the end of the story. I've tried to double the size of my chapters for this story, but unfortunately it will probably take a while for me to get out more because of schoolwork and such. I've been writing this for some time, but I'm sorry I haven't been able to post it sooner.**

**Sorry about the random errors… I usually only find time to write more late at night. :L**

**Hope you like it (: **

**Please R & R.**

_My name is Leah Aimee Stone. If you're just starting to read this, here is everything about me: I'm 11 years old and I'm super short, my hair is dark brown and my eyes are a deep shade of green. I live in a four story house in the town of Rockhampton, Central Queensland, with five bathrooms, ten bedrooms and servants who wear spotless white uniforms. My Father – or rather, my foster father Maurice – works as a Lawyer, but my foster Mother died from Pneumonia like… ages ago, before I even came here. Because Father is always away in some place or other, I have the nasty Miss Gardenia, the housekeeper, here to take care of me. When Father is home, she acts all nice and everything, but when he is away she's the most evil woman you could ever meet. My identical twin sister, Anna-Beth, is somewhere out there. I want to find her and tell her everything that's wrong. She could put it right. Apparently, we got taken to the same care home after our parents were gone, but somehow we got separated. I've been to about seven different foster homes. None of them can stand me, though I'm rather quiet. I'm just too stubborn I guess, and I hate it when people ask me to do stuff. I don't have any siblings at the moment. The last one left about two months ago but he was an annoying little scab anyway. I don't think I can live on much longer without my sister. There's hardly anybody nice in the world of foster families. The only nice person I see every day is the cleaning girl, Claire. I miss my sister more than anything in the world. I often wonder what she's doing, and whether she even remembers me. If I don't find her soon, life won't be worth living._

'Leah!'

Leah shoved the diary under her duvet just as the angry housekeeper stormed through the open doorway.

'How many times have I told you to clean your room?' She was yelling and her voice was echoing around the room because Leah's bed was a good ten metres away from the door.

Leah scowled, 'You told me like, three times?'

'There is no excuse for this behaviour! Mr Stone won't put up with it and neither will I!' There was some truth in this, as he was also very strict, but he also showed love to her – something in which Miss Gardenia lacked completely.

'Yes miss, sorry miss.' Leah muttered. She was tired of the housekeeper's outbursts but didn't fancy the consequences of arguing. Miss Gardenia left the room in a huff, and Leah settled back down on her bed.

She reached down under her bed and pulled out a snickers bar from her secret stash of food she'd smuggled up from the kitchen. Out the window, a beautiful tree was in bloom. The flowers that had fallen were scattered on the windowsill and the fresh scent of morning air had filled the room. The door opened and Claire appeared holding a pile of pressed clothes. She placed them neatly on a table.

'Not a good day for school, Leah?'

'I hate my school! Nobody ever learns anything there, including manners and the ability to be _nice_ to people.'

Claire smiled. 'You'll make friends soon, I'm sure.'

'You don't understand!' Leah groaned. 'There's nobody in that stupid place worth making friends with, and even if there was, I wouldn't be able to. The mean kids would put a stop to it at once.'

The cleaner sighed. 'Good luck.' She gave Leah a hug before shuffling out in her white canvas slip-on shoes.

Leah put on her ever-present scowl. Today was definitely not a good day for school, just as Claire had said. The sun was _actually_ shining! The weather was perfect! Even though she would have much rather gone on a picnic with her imagination, wagging school wasn't an option. Well, it was if you thought getting suspended wasn't a bad thing. Leah secretly didn't care, but she knew Maurice would so she reluctantly got dressed and stuffed her diary, iPod, mobile phone and schoolbooks into her black carry-bag.

Downstairs, the tired-looking cook had prepared her breakfast. I didn't look like he was having a very good day. The hash-browns, bacon and eggs had bits of charcoal on them and there was no tomato sauce. Leah didn't blame him. Having a boss like Miss Gardenia was probably a good deal worse than she could ever imagine. She stuffed them down and ran out the door as if the house was about to explode.

_Things aren't going well right now. I've lived in Rockhampton for over a year, but I can never make any friends. I am known as the class loner, so I tend to focus more on my classes rather than making friends. Okay, so that makes me sound like a nerd, but what else can you do when your class has you passed off as a _complete_ moron? The only real friend I've ever had was this guy called Jared. He was my best friend from my school back in Brisbane, before we moved up here. He was one of my four friends at the school, but at the same time he was my one and only friend. He was definitely the connection between me and the other kids in the group. I suppose I had other friends, too, but I didn't hang with them at all. Then, all of a sudden, his parents and brother were killed in a helicopter crash, and that was it. He was shipped off to some care home on the other side of town and I never saw him again. I didn't even get to say goodbye. I think I miss him almost as much as I miss my sister._

Leah looked up. The bus was coming. It was eight o'clock, and school had just started. She knew she would be in for a scolding, but it didn't hit her as something that would matter. A couple of kids were on the bus from the last stop and were chatting away at the back. As soon as they saw her, they stopped and stared, giving her weird looks as if she smelt bad.

Leah ignored them. She knew she would never be the slightest bit popular, but she knew she wasn't ugly or stupid. She had the kind of self-confidence that a lot of the kids in her grade lacked a lot. It just seemed to be their bet that a girl could be the most unpopular for the entire school year. She sat down at the front and plugged her iPod in her ears. She put on her music and tried to ignore them.

The bus stopped after ten minutes and everyone got off. Leah sighed and rose from her seat. The school looked like hell on earth from here. The playground was a mass of screaming and shouting seven-year-olds in their PE class.

Leah ignored the looks she got from her classmates when she entered the classroom, and sat at an empty desk at the back. The teacher gave her a look, but said nothing and continued marking the roll of attendance. As she was finishing, a boy appeared at the door. He was almost as short as Leah and looked as if he came from the third grade rather than the sixth. His chocolate brown hair looked static as it shaped his face and he had a long side-fringe which made the eyes hard to see. The teacher looked up.

'Have you come with a message?'

The boy frowned and shook his head. Leah saw his face fully and realised he looked sort of familiar. She just didn't know how. 'No, I'm in the sixth grade. I'm new.' He spoke with an English accent, like her.

'Oh yes…' The teacher turned to the class. 'This is Liam Mills. He's just moved here from London, and he'll be joining our class.'

The kids stared over, some smiling, some scowling. The scowling ones hated when new kids came because it meant that the teacher was always expecting them to behave well, and was continually comparing their behaviour. The smiling ones obviously wanted to welcome him and make friends.

Leah was busy debating which group she was in. It was nice to have a new kid in your class so that you could show off the school to them – not that the school had anything nice about it. On the other hand, she didn't particularly like being continually compared to new students and new kids had an annoying way of being completely unpredictable. She decided on the second option.

Unfortunately, the only spare desk was the one next to her. The new boy dumped his books on the desk and sat down. By this time, the whole class was talking, so Leah sighed and turned to the boy.

'Hi. I'm Leah.'

'Liam. You're English?' He smiled. She realised he was from London and smiled.

'Yeah. My old foster family was English, so that's how I speak, I guess. You're English too.' she trailed off. She had suddenly realised why he seemed familiar. This boy reminded her _so_ much of Jared, minus the accent, of course. It was a pretty big trip down memory lane and Leah felt a sudden lump in her throat.

'I only got here last week, but it's pretty cool, being in a new country and stuff.'

Leah nodded and turned back to the front. This boy seemed nice, but he would almost definitely stop talking to her when he realised her social status.

Miss Marse rapped on her desk with a ruler. 'Quiet! Now!'

_There's a new boy at school today. His name's Liam and he's sitting right next to me. It feels good to have someone to talk to. The teacher, Miss Marse, is yelling at us. She's really angry because none of us has done our homework, apart from the nerds. I've recently decided to abandon the nerds' group and stop doing homework. After all, there's not really any harm in cramming at the last minute and the tests are always really easy. I've got much better things to do._

_Life is hard at school. All the teachers have serious anger management issues. In the first fifteen minutes of every lesson, all the teacher is doing is telling kids off. I wish I could just jump into a hole and block out everything around me. It's just all too much._

The bell finally rang for class and Leah began packing up her books to go out. Liam looked like he was going to ask her something, but he said nothing and wandered outside. He'd probably already got the picture that she was the world-class freak of the school. Leah followed him out and saw that some other girls had already started talking to him. Millicent, in particular. She was the sort of girl who specialised in chatting all the boys up.

'So, Liam. Which school did you come from?' she asked.

Liam raised an eyebrow. 'A school in London.'

'Oh! You're from London? Do you like Australia, then?'

'Sure. I guess.' Liam replied, giving her a look as if to say: _is it that hard to tell where I come from?_

'That's cool. You can come and meet the others if you want. I'll show you around.' She had this weird girly look on her face and Liam had the sort of look on his face that said he would have much preferred to jump out of an aeroplane. Leah rolled her eyes and walked off, but it was pretty funny seeing Millicent fail to lure Liam in. Great, he wasn't the sort of guy who responded to stuff like that. As she rounded the corner, she was sure he started to follow her, which was kind of freaky and certain suicide for him. Nobody was allowed to talk to her – the group of intimidating rugby boys and their near-anorexic girlfriends kept a close eye on anyone who went near her. She rounded another corner and sprinted across the playground, settling down on a small park bench behind a tree in the far corner – her favourite spot.

'Did you drop this?'

Leah jumped. Liam was there and he was holding her diary. 'Oh, yeah, thanks.'

'No friends here?'

'None at all.' Leah looked around and saw that a big group of her class were coming towards them. It didn't look good – this was going to get _way_ out of hand if she didn't do something right now. 'Liam…you should-'

'What you hanging around Stones for, squirt? You should know better.' The biggest looking kid named Austin stepped out. The rest all crowded around, blocking their escape.

Liam narrowed his eyes. 'I was giving her something she dropped, and I was being nice, unlike you. Do you have a problem with that?'

'Well, actually, we do. And quit the fake accent. It makes you sound like you came out of a hole.' Liam looked offended and was about to sprout a comeback, but another kid was already stepping out and giving Leah a death stare. 'Do you even want to talk to him? He pointed a fat finger at Liam and gave her a look as if to say _don't you dare side with him_.

Leah felt intimidated and longed to grab the finger and bend it back until the bone snapped. This was what she hated most – someone threatening her every time she tried to make friends. She wouldn't come out well if she said _yes_. This guy could snap her like a twig. She put on a forced scowl. 'No.'

'Well, squirt. Why should you have anything to do with her? She doesn't even like you!' The speaking kid grabbed Liam by the arm and pulled him away. 'Don't hang with her. She has issues. _We're_ the good guys here.'

Leah sighed and started eating as the group walked away. She looked up just as they disappeared around the corner. Liam was looking at her – it was the most hurt look she had ever seen on a guy's face.

_My Mum once told me that the worst thing you could ever do to someone was to hurt their feelings, when they totally didn't deserve it. I guess she's right, as always. I hate my life. I want to move to a new place, get another chance. Wipe the slate clean of everything I've ever done to offend people. I don't know why I was so mean to him, but I guess it's because I'm a wimp and chose the easy way out of a fight. He actually seemed nice, but now I've definitely ruined any chance of making friends with him. I know I have to say I'm sorry, but how on earth am I supposed to do that? I hurt a guy's feelings on his first day of school – In a new country. Wow, he must have a pretty full-on idea of what Australian kids are like now, all thanks to me. Maybe I could slip a note into his desk and explain – that might work, but then he would think I was a coward for not saying it to his face. If you don't own up straight to things when you're young then you end up like this as an adult. This is why Miss Gardenia is such a coward, and probably the fact that she is still a 'miss' when she's over fifty. It must come from her parents – they came to our house once for tea and they were an exact replica of their daughter. I'll have to say it to his face; there is no way that I can be cowardly. And I'll have to do it in class, I suppose. This may be a little difficult, though, since there are all these other kids around us that could eavesdrop._

At seven-thirty, Miss Gardenia called Leah down for tea. Tonight it was mashed potatoes with Lamb shanks and peas. It would have looked appetising but the cook had added some kind of vitamins to the meat and you could see the bits of crushed up pills floating in the gravy. Leah groaned but ate it anyway, and washed it down with lemon cordial and ice. When she'd finished, she went back up to her room.

Claire had pressed her pyjamas and they lay waiting on her bed. She quickly changed into them and turned on her computer.

It didn't look like much had changed on MySpace. The popular kids still posted malicious remarks about incidents at school and all the unpopular kids tried to win popularity by commenting. Suddenly, a message popped up from her cousin Emily in Scotland. Leah smiled. She hadn't talked to her in ages.

**Emmibear: **Howz it going?

**Leah: **Okay.New kid at school.

**Emmibear: **Kewl. What's the name?

**Leah: **Liam.He's nice… I think I blew any chances of making friends though.

**Emmibear: **How come?

**Leah: **Totallysided against him when he said we were friends to some other kid.

**Emmibear: **What if he was crushing on you? You'd have broken his heart!

**Leah: **I know. Just like what mum said, but he was NOT crushing on me!

**Emmibear:** How do you know he wasn't?

**Leah: **Don't want to talk about it. I'm bored. Anything to do in Glasgow?

**Emmibear: **Probably as much as there is to do in Rockhampton.

Leah smiled and typed back. She felt relaxed for the first time in days.

**Leah:** Yeah, sounds fun. I can't help feeling sad, though. He's_ so_ like Jared.

Emily started to type, and then stopped. There was a long pause and it looked like she had disconnected, but then she started up again. Leah sighed with relief.

**Emmibear: **Really! How?

**Leah:** His personality. He came into class for the first time this-morning, sits down next to me and straight away he's making a joke about something, and he's known me for thirty seconds.

**Emmibear:** Well… what a shame you scared him away.

**Leah:** I know.

**Emmibear:** Dammit! Mom's calling me. Talk later!

Emily signed off and Leah scowled as she closed down the conversation window. Emily was one of the only friendly people in her life. Too bad she lived on the other side of the world.

It was 7am, Friday morning, when Leah's alarm clock went off for school. She reached her hand out, trying to get into range of the snooze sensor, but Miss Gardenia was in before she could get her hand back under the pillow.

'Get up now, young lady! You shan't be late for school this-morning.' She pulled back the duvet cover and sheet in one. 'It's a wonder you can even open your eyes! You were up so late on that computer of yours.'

Leah wanted to say that she hadn't even opened her eyes yet, but she had to get up anyway because by now the breeze was coming through the open window and raising goose bumps on her bare legs.

She pulled on black skinny jeans, a faded top and leather jacket. Before heading off downstairs, she slipped on black socks and converse and tried to take a long time putting on her eyeliner and mascara as to annoy the housekeeper even more. Makeup wasn't allowed at school, but all the girls wore it anyway. Miss Gardenia was _such _a stickler for the rules.

Leah wandered at a snail's pace down the stairs, still half asleep. The cook seemed to be having a better morning than usual and had prepared fried eggs and bacon on toast. Leah ate slowly, not bothering to hurry. School started at 8:00, which was in forty-five minutes. She would have more than enough time to get there.

_Nothing much has changed at school. The leader of the big group, Austin, who Liam and I encountered yesterday, is still my public enemy number one. The kids still show no respect for the teachers, and vice versa. So, school is still my worst nightmare. I don't think I'm looking forward to apologising to Liam. If the other kids notice me then I'll get squished like a bug, and there's no way he's gonna defend me after what I've done. I've just got to hope for the best._

Leah strolled into class. The bell had just rung and a sudden stream of kids were coming in, looking tired and wishing that school started later. She went straight to her desk. Liam was already there.

She looked at him in the eye as she got close. 'I'm sorry.'

'It's cool,'

'No, really. I'm sorry.' Leah sighed and sat down.

Liam raised an eyebrow. 'You made a show of me, didn't you? Don't you trust me to stand by you?'

'They would have killed us. We're the shortest kids in the class by miles, and there were eleven massive guys sizing up to us. There's no way in hell we could have come out better.'

Liam shrugged. 'Getting killed together is what "bonds" you.' He grinned and pulled some air quotes as he said it. 'Well, that's what the counsellor person said.'

'You saw the counsellor?'

'Yeah.' Liam smirked, scratching his head. 'Mum thought it would be good because I'm starting school in a new country, but it was mostly just random crap you'd expect for a kid with issues.'

Leah smiled. 'Yeah, okay. I should probably start learning judo or something.'

He laughed. 'Don't think you'll need to, but mum signed me up for karate classes as soon as we got here. You could come along too, if you want, but you can't start til' they get room in the beginners – maybe a month?'

'Okay.' Leah laughed too, mostly out of relief. Finally, there was someone who wanted to make friends with her. She wasn't a loner any longer.

_Liam reminds me so much of Jared. They have the same personality, everything. I feel crazy talking to him. I don't think I'll ever regret apologising, even if Austin tries to kill me for it._

_The French lesson is the most tiresome of all lessons, partly because I don't learn anything. I'm already fluent in French. While all the other kids struggle to remember what_ _some of the easiest phrases are, I'm just sitting there trying not to fall asleep._

_Did I mention that I _hate _school? I know that I'm privileged and all that, and that I should remember that a lot of kids can't go to school, but every night we get so much homework I feel like I'm sitting in an after school lesson and there's not many choices when it comes to friends._

Miss Marse dismissed the kids at 10:30am for their morning break. Leah heaved a sigh of relief as the school bell rang and sleepily piled up her books and wandered out the door.

The playground was, as always, a mass of psycho, screaming kids. Leah sat with Liam in her usual spot, hoping they weren't going to get trouble today. Unfortunately, the group rounded the corner just as she thought of this. Today they were in leather jackets and some wore bandannas which gave them a kiddie bad-ass look about them.

'You _still_ hanging around her?' Austin sounded especially pissed off, but there was a teasing air to his tone. 'You suit each other, though. Both midgets.'

'I'll hang with her for as long as I like, because she's worth a million of you. You'll stay away if you know what's good for you.'

'Oooh, are you threatening us? Wow, I'm just so scared.' The group sniggered as the sarcastic remark was made.

Liam rolled his eyes. 'I wasn't threatening you. I was just asking you to leave us alone. Don't you have better things to do?'

'Not when it comes to you.' As if to emphasise this he pulled an object from his pocket and pegged it at Leah. She yelped as it hit her in the eye, before covering her face with her diary as she went into a spasm of pain.

Liam looked horrified. 'What the hell was that for?'

'She's a little streak of piss.' Austin shrugged. 'She should learn.'

'Just because she's short? What did she ever do to you?' Liam was facing them off now, and looked quite intimidating, despite his height.

'She's done a lot of things, especially before she came to this hole.' Austin shoved Liam away. 'A lot of things that would make you want to puke if you knew.'

'Just piss off to hell! You haven't even had a freaking conversation with her! How would you have any idea what she's like?' He shoved Austin away, making him overbalance and crash into the dirt. He was surprisingly strong despite his size and Austin looked rather intimidated. Leah looked up slightly and remembered what he had said about doing karate. Now that she looked, she saw that he looked really strong, and he had definite muscle where Austin had flab. Maybe she shouldn't have worried, after all.

By this time, half the playground had gathered around the two boys who were yelling at each other. A teacher pushed through and pulled Austin away. Trust the teacher to resolve the fight.

As the crowd turned away, Liam turned back to Leah. 'Let's see.'

Leah pulled the diary away from her face as he knelt down in front of her and pulled a tissue from his pocket. There was a long, thin streak of blood running down the side of her face, but she wasn't crying. The pain was mostly gone, and now she was angry.

Liam put his hands on her shoulders and shook her to get her back to her senses. 'Are you okay?' He stood her up and pulled her into a hug.

'I'm fine. Thanks.' Leah sighed, but she clearly had tears in her eyes.


	2. A Whole Different Story

Chapter 2

_Life's complicated, especially when you're me – Anna-Beth Maree Seemore, or just Annie for short. Just to make it clear to all of you, I hate my middle name and my last name. I just have to keep them because I'm not adopted yet. I'm eleven years old, born on the eleventh of October. I'm 136cm tall – yeah, I am that short – and my hair's a darkish brown, but I want it black. The only reason it's not dyed some random colour is because the school says you have to have natural hair colour, which I think is stupid. How else can a girl express themselves? Anyway, my life revolves around school, and friends, but at the same time I know there's something else out there, that I can't get to. I feel like I'm trapped, despite being just a school-girl in a local middle school on the east coast of Australia. I live with a foster family, led by a woman named Mrs Sanders. She's a good mum, cause I can talk to her about almost anything. I wish my mother had been like this. No such luck for me – she's in prison. I go to church every Sunday night. I live in a run-down wood house on the Gold Coast, and there's this massive pool out the front. It's an okay place to live, but It's real crappy. Rubbish piles line the streets and it's super dirty. Anyway, it's fun inviting friends over and stuff, just to chill… and eat takeaway while we chill. I hate school, simply because I hate learning. The only reasons I go are to diss the teachers and see my friends. Every morning and afternoon, I go surfing on the beach, and every night I meet friends at the youth hall. My life is generally a good life. But it wasn't always like this. I can hardly remember, but there was a big white house, white clothes, white room. It was nothing like the black walls and pink décor of my room today. I have one photo, which I had in my pocket the day everything changed. It was the one I got with my card on my second birthday. There is a woman wearing white – my mum –, and a man in black – probably my dad. It was before mum got sent to prison and Dad died. Next to them is a young girl. Under the photo, it says, in very faint pencil:_

Dear Anna-Beth,

Every day you live on is a gift from God. Happy Birthday.

With love,

Mum, Dad and Leah.

_Leah? Okay, _why have I not been told about this girl_? She's my freaking identical twin sister! I carry this photo everywhere. It even has a random coffee stain on the corner from when I was being sort of careless. I don't know if she's even alive, but I trust God will keep her safe, wherever she is._

_If I ever meet my sister again, it'll be the best day of my life._

'Anna? Anna-Beth?' Annie spun around. She was dressed for summer, with a stripy almost-mid drift and skinny jeans, even though it was the middle of winter. She never felt the cold. The kid looked like he came from about the fourth grade, though he was easily ten centimetres taller than her. 'Mr Goppins said you have detention tomorrow for not coming to class.'

Annie scowled. 'I didn't come because I hate maths, and I felt like a swim. Plus, I'm not even coming to school tomorrow, so I won't even be there for my detention.'

'Where're you going?'

'None of your business, sprout.' Annie grinned and tossed him a packet of ovaltines. 'Here, take this for all your trouble.'

'Thanks.' The kid winked. 'You'll have to watch out for you're detention consequences, though.'

'Who cares?' Annie waved him off and turned back to the inside of her locker, which was covered in pictures of friends and her dog, Missy. She was just slamming the door shut when a huge weight pressed down on her shoulders. Annie screamed as someone flipped over her and landed on the ground just centimetres from where her hand was now resting.

'Jesus, Reece! Watch it!'

Reece Blackwood grinned at her. 'Sorry.' Twelve years old, he'd been Annie's boyfriend for over a year. He had no parents and lived in a small shed next to Annie's house, as one of her permanent foster brothers. It was more like he was her actual adopted brother. It didn't look good going out when they lived under the same roof, but nobody seemed to care. After shoving his books in his locker, he laced his fingers through hers and together they walked through the crowded playground.

'Man, I'm so glad we're not in primary anymore.' Annie remarked, as she pointed to a group of year-ones wrestling with each other on the grass. 'Those kids are mental.'

Reece nodded. 'Tell me about it.' They reached the corner of the playground where Annie's group of friends always sat. There were about ten kids, half boys, half girls, with a few annoying tag-alongs. Her best friend, Lee Sommers, nodded to her.'

'Nice swim? I should've joined you, but Mr Watkins caught me in the hallway and made sure I went to my exam, which I probably failed. Coming this-arvo?

Annie shrugged. 'Sure. Don't want to go to Japanese, anyway.'

'Cool.' Lee grinned at her and was about to say something else when she got pulled up by one of the tags. She threw a scowl back at Annie, who smirked.

No sooner had she smirked, people realised she had arrived and started coming over, delivering her the 'news'. This happened almost every day. She had no idea what it was about her that made everyone want to be her friend. Sometimes it was good – like, it brought people like Lee and Reece into her life, she had loads of friends and she never felt like she was un-loved. But a lot of the time, it was bad, because you got tag-alongs like Maree.

Maree had first started befriending Annie because her name was Annie's middle name. At first, Annie had been nice and welcomed her, but she gradually got more and more annoying. She was the sort of girl who never let go, no matter how many times you gossiped about her or dissed her.

The amount of times Maree tried to talk to her every day left Annie with a blurred mind. Most of the time, she used the one-on-one boyfriend excuse with Reece to get away from her. But even then, Maree looked like she was waiting for them to break up or something so that she could get all the attention. She sometimes even came up to them and disturbed their privacy completely.

Luckily she wasn't hanging with them today, but there were still other kids trying to get into the 'inner-circle', that consisted of Annie, Reece and Lee, and seven others: Bethany Spark, Sean Rowley, Bradlee Gilbert, Wilson Flint, Teesh MacLeigh, Kati Power and Jay Wryte. Right now, Sean was showing her a print-out of a MySpace fight between Bethany and their group enemy Vanessa Maggins. It was pretty funny, reading all the good comebacks that had been written and laughing at lame excuses Vanessa had made, but at the same time it felt like they were just trying to get her attention. Nearing to the end of the fight, the actual point of it became unknown and it was just random accusations, which made the whole thing more and more pointless.

Annie laughed with them, but after a while she extracted herself and went off with Reece. It wasn't that she didn't like her friends. She loved every one of them. It was just that she needed her space. It was the tag alongs that just drove her completely round the bend.

'Sounds like a pretty pointless fight, hey?' Reece read her thoughts, exactly how he always did. Annie always wondered how he did it. It was like he had psychic powers or something.

'Yeah, but I'm still with Bethany the whole way,' Annie sighed, 'even though she did throw some pretty false accusations in. Like the fact that her boyfriend said she was a lesbian. That's so not true.'

'Yeah, but it was funny. Good to have something to liven the place up sometimes.'

Annie smiled at him. ''Tis,' she pulled him into a hug, and then plopped down onto a bench. 'Maree is getting really annoying.'

'You'll always have tags like Maree, no matter where you go.' Reece said. 'You can't get away from it, but you should learn to accept it. God just happened to make you beautiful.'

Annie sighed, and thought how good it was to have someone to lean on. Someone who wouldn't let you be put down and encouraged her. But she left this subject quickly, because it reminded her of her sister. Still, it didn't stop tears forming in her eyes.

'Are you okay?' Reece put his arm around her. Only Reece and Lee knew about Leah. Annie just didn't trust anyone else enough to tell them.

'I'm fine. I just remembered my sister, that's all.' She sighed again. 'Do you think I'll ever see her again?'

'Only God knows,'

Annie smiled at him. 'I hope what God knows is good.'

'Me too.'

'I wonder what she's doing.'

'Probably got a huge hunk of friends, if she's anything like you, with tag-alongs coming out of her ears.' Reece said.

'Probably got a boyfriend too.' Annie said. 'Like you, again.'

They sat for a few minutes in silence, before Annie spoke up again.

'I feel like I have to track her down, myself. Mum told me she died in the car accident that killed dad, but I didn't buy it. I don't know why. I just felt hope that she might still be alive.'

'I used to wonder if my Mum was still alive, even though I knew she wasn't. I just never stopped hoping she was somewhere out there, until I realised it was for real.' Reece said. 'Besides, if your mum was lying to you, she's lying for a reason. She wants to keep you safe. I'm sure she wouldn't keep you two apart for no reason.'

'God help me.' Annie said, changing the subject completely. 'We have to go.'

'What is it?' Reece asked.

'Maree.'

'Oh God.' He led her by the hand and they disappeared as fast as they could into the crowd. They had to run through the middle of a football game between the grade fours and fives to get to safety. After a minute or two, they crashed out behind a building, puffed from running. 'She's one twisted girl.'

'Tell me about it.' Annie said.

_I'm sitting in my room with my curtains drawn. The sun is pouring in from outside and starting to blind me slightly. Reece is in his shed. Lee – she lives next door – has gone to the markets with her Dad. Mum's out at the market's too, and she's taken two of my brothers with her. Two of my sisters, who are both under the age of eight, are playing with dolls in the attic. My other three sisters and brothers are down at the beach, surfing: Alice, Tessa, Jennifer, Joe, Matt and Josh. All freaks about the beach, even Jennifer, who came from Mount Isa last week and isn't mad on cold water. All I can hear is the sound of Reece's Amplifier turned down low and the occasional high-pitched scream from the attic. It's an early start for a Friday. Normally I'm still under the covers, either texting Reece because I don't want to walk down to him, or just dozing. Anyway, as I said before, I'm not going to school today. Mum's decided that we can all have a day off because we've been apparently working very hard on our school work. This is so not true because I never work, but I don't mind her saying so because now I don't have to go to my detention or see Maree's face again for another three days. I'll probably go surfing with Reece and maybe with Lee when she gets back. Then tonight I have to go to Little Athletics. I only go because Lee, Reece and a lot of my friends go, and there's nothing else to do. Reece is in under thirteens with Bradlee and Bethany, so I'm stuck in under twelves with Jay, Kati, Sean and Lee. I have a suspicion that there's something going on between Lee and Sean, so I don't really like interrupting their conversations. And, well, Jay and Kati have been dating for nearly six months. So, I kind of have to go around with Lee and Sean to not look like a complete loner. Fortunately, we also get loads of free time, so I meet up with Reece then to get away from my love-sick friend. The only two friends who don't go are Teesh and Wilson. I'm stuck in the middle._

The door slammed with a bang, vibrating the walls of the old wooden house. Annie's foster Mum bustled up the hallway, with identical twin brothers Will and Ryan, five years old. Mrs Sanders dumped boxes of fruit and vegetables on the long bench in the kitchen before opening the window and ringing a bell – Annie's bell.

Because twelve other kids lived in the house besides Annie and her mum, the house had to be fairly bigger than your average house. When Mrs Sanders became a foster parent, she bought the house behind and turned it into a place to house all the children. When a kid was required, she simply rang their bell – every bell sounded different. Annie appeared from the top of the stairs.

'I was in my room.'

'Sorry,' Mrs Sanders swept her into a hug which took her feet off the floor. 'I was afraid I'd missed you. Where is everyone?'

'Kaisa and Lizzie are playing in the attic, Reece is in the shed and the others are on the waves. I was gonna join them but I wanted to wait 'til Lee got back.'

'I saw her at the markets. She said she'd meet you there at eight. You'd better hurry, that's ten minutes.' She kissed the top of Annie's head and replaced the bell on a shelf above the fridge. Annie thankfully rushed off, flying down the stairs and out the back door, over the narrow gully bridge and right up to the door of a wood shelter. Reece answered with his ever-present smile. 'Hi.'

'Mum says Lee wants to meet us at the beach at eight. Coming?'

'Sure.' Reece said. 'Just need to pack up. Meet you in five minutes on the street.'

Annie nodded and walked the ten-or-so metres to the door of the kid's house. It was good living here, because life never got boring, but at the same time it was bad because there was very little privacy. At night, when everyone was packed in, the noise was terrific and every minute you had to get up and re-shut your door because other kids kept ramming it. If she could buy anything in the world, she'd buy a lock for her door and a pair of earplugs.

The beach was reasonably quiet for a Friday morning. Only a few people were surfing, with a few other early risers walking along the beach. Lee waved to them as they got close.

'Hi. Took your time.'

'We only got the news to come down about fifteen minutes ago.' Annie said, sitting down to smother on sun-tan lotion. 'How were the markets?'

'They were OK.' Lee said. 'This old guy tried to give me a free rock. Seemed pretty weird.'

'That's what happened to me last year.' Reece said. 'Should never take them. Apparently they curse them and stuff.'

'Oh damn.' Lee grabbed her bag and rustled through it, throwing out a shiny-looking pebble. 'You should have said that earlier.'

Annie and Reece both laughed. 'It's just a novelty thing. Don't take it seriously.' Annie said. Lee didn't look too convinced.

'Do up my zip, Lee?' Annie turned around, back to her friend. Lee tugged the zip of the wet-suit up, careful not to snag it in Annie's hair.

'You want yours done too, Reece?'

'Already done.' Reece said, picking up his surf board. 'Let's go.'

The water was beautiful, like silk brushing your skin. It was a clear as drinking water, with a slight tinge of blue, exactly like a tropical island. The scene was perfect. After surfing they went and had fish and chips for breakfast, before heading back to the house.

As soon as she got in the gate, Annie peeled off her suit and hurtled herself into the pool. 'Ugh. That salt is really making me stink.'

Matt grinned. 'Nothing more than usual.'

Annie flicked him off as Reece tore off his wet-suit and jumped in with her. The splash was huge and soaked Jennifer, who was standing a little too close. She scowled and went inside. At nine years old, she always seemed to be in a mood and didn't like being social with the other kids. The social workers were getting worried about her. After losing her mum to cancer three months earlier, she had gradually sunk into depression. She wouldn't speak to any of the counsellors who Mrs Sanders sent her to, and most of her spare time in her room reading and sulking. The only reason she'd come down to the beach was because Mrs Sanders had told her she needed fresh air. She apparently didn't like surfing at all.

'Chill out, Jen.' Joe yelled after her. He didn't get an answer.

After a few hours, Lee went off to school. She said that she didn't want to, but that her Dad would throw a spack at her if she didn't. Mrs Sanders offered to drive her, and got them Hungry Jacks on the way home. Tessa and Alice refused it and went off shopping. They seemed to have this overall desire to be really, really slim. At thirteen years of age, they both looked close to anorexic.

'Wouldn't want any more lard on those thighs, would we girls?' Matt taunted. He was a good one for making other kids feel small and stupid.

Annie rolled her eyes. She'd just got out of the pool and her skin was wrinkled from swimming all morning. 'You think you're just so smart.' She rubbed herself down with the towel, making her skin come up bright red.

'That's because I am.'


	3. Karate

**My third chapter... woot woot! xP**

**Excuse my poor knowledge of Karate classes, and other things which happen in the story. Please don't comment tell me I don't know anything, because I already know that. Hope you enjoy, please R & R. (:**

_Two months later_

_A lot of people seem to think that I'm really sensitive. This isn't true. It's just that everything piles up like a burden and when I'm like this it only takes one tiny little thing to set me off, which is exactly what happened last month. After Austin's outburst, he got taken to see the counsellor because of his 'aggressive behaviour'. I don't want him to get away with bullying me like this, but he almost certainly will. Every kid in the grade except for Liam is going to pin the blame on me. Anyway, I don't think I'll have to worry much anymore. I asked Dad over the phone about joining karate with Liam and, after persuading him that it would be good for defending against bullies, he finally agreed to it._

Leah sat on the public bus, clutching her carry-bag to her chest and reading the directions that had been given to her the day before. She had to get off the bus when she got to 'George Street' and then attempt to wade through the crowds of people to a hall a hundred metres away.

As she stepped off the bus, she was immediately surrounded by strange people. They all seemed to be heading somewhere, and the fact that her height stopped her from seeing where she was wasn't helping. A large man wearing a suit brushed past her. It was only a light touch but it was enough to send her bag down onto the ground. As she bent down to retrieve it, someone stepped on her hand, making her scream out. She was forced to retreat back to the bus-stop.

'Is this yours?' A woman had appeared holding a bag.

Leah looked grateful. 'Yeah, thanks.' She took her bag quickly and rushed in the direction of a nearby bakery, where the crowds were thinning out. Once here, she glanced at her map and realised that the hall was closer than Liam had said. It was built on a corner, less than fifty metres away.

The hall turned out to be multi-purpose. On Monday night's, it served as a scout base and on Friday nights as a youth group. On Tuesday afternoons, Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings, it was used for karate classes.

Leah felt nervous as she opened the massive doors and walked inside. The front room was huge and was divided by folding walls, one side for beginners and one for intermediate. The floors were laid with sparring mats and from what she could see, almost every kid was wearing white pyjamas. She suddenly felt silly in her baggy tracksuit pants and gym shirt.

A fit looking twenty-something who was instructing kids on the beginner's side beckoned her over when he saw her.

'Welcome, Leah. I'm instructor Mark. I understand that you were invited here by Liam.'

'Yeah,' Leah said. She had looked around before but couldn't see him anywhere.

'Well, he's out the back with the advanced class but you'll be able to catch up later, I'm sure. Our class is scheduled to watch them for the last few minutes of the first session, just to see what karate is like in the higher levels. For now, I'll start you off in the beginner class.' Mark said. He led her over to the group of kids in the corner and introduced her. 'Everyone, this is Leah. She'll be starting for the first time today, so please make her welcome and don't be too hard on her. You know how your first days were.'

The rest of the class nodded and flashed a few smiles in her direction. These kids looked pretty nice, although they were at least two years younger than her. Her height didn't make her _look_ like an outsider, though, which was somewhat a relief.

The only other kid who wasn't in kit was a heavily tanned girl who looked about ten. She was short for her age, but you could tell she wasn't weak from the muscles that bulged on her arms and legs. She stepped up to Leah and introduced herself. As soon as she spoke, Leah realised she was English.

'Hi, Leah. I'm Mary, and I'm new here too. I don't have a partner for drills, so I'm guessing you'll have to put up with me.' She grinned. 'I'll try not to hurt you too badly, since it's your first time.'

Leah smiled slightly. 'Should hope not.'

'I have to be in this class because they haven't graded me yet.'

'Which class are you meant to be in?' Leah asked.

Mary shrugged. 'Probably advanced. I got suspended for "aggressive behaviour" about six months ago, and then broke my arm in a school fight last month. I only got the OK to start training today, but I'm still restricted from some stuff because of my suspension. Normally I'd have to start all over again from the white belt, but Dad had them bend the rules a bit.'

Instructor Mark yelled across the room and clapped his hands together. 'Okay, everyone. Warm up, please.'

At ten minutes to ten, Mark led the beginner's group out of their half of the room and through a door at the back. This opened out to a much larger room, with about a dozen kids sitting against the wall. They all wore white pyjamas with purple, black and brown belts. In the centre of the room, two kids were sparring.

'This is the advanced karate class.' Mark was speaking to them. 'It consists of three black belts, four brown belts, two purple-white belts and five purple belts, and we'll be getting some more soon, hopefully.'

The beginners sat by the door, watching as one kid body slammed the other. Leah looked around the room, scanning for Liam's familiar face. Finally she saw it, right at the end. His usually straight, static and totally cool scene hair was ruffled with sweat. He smiled and waved. She couldn't see what belt he had, but when he got up to speak to the first aid manager she saw that it was black. He must have done karate in England somewhere to be this good already.

A bell sounded and the two brown belts in the middle got off each other and shook hands. Mary rushed over to Liam as the rest of the class started going out. Leah followed, wondering how on earth she knew him.

'What the hell did you do now?' Mary asked, as she examined Liam's hand. It was red and swollen, just the beginning of a huge bruise.

'Some idiot body slammed me and I landed on it.' Liam winced as the first-aid manager pressed ice onto it. 'Not broken, though. That's certainly a relief.'

'A relief, yes. Wouldn't want to miss out on tonight!'

'Won't get my third dan anyway. I suck.'

Mary laughed. Liam smiled at Leah. 'You guys have already met? Well, this is my sister Mary, in case she hasn't been polite enough to explain that to you already. Mary, this is Leah, a friend from school.'

'Cool.' Mary said. 'I'll see you around, then?' She waved and hurried off to a group of girls who were huddled in the corner.

'Right… So you like it?' Liam asked.

'It's pretty fun, actually. Having Mary as a partner isn't that fun, though.'

Liam laughed. 'She's probably the most aggressive girl you'll ever meet. You should've seen her compete in London. She was all over 'em.

'What belt it she?' Leah asked, as they headed over to the water canteen. A lot of kids were already there, grabbing plastic cups from a dispenser and pouring themselves huge drinks.

Liam grabbed a cup. 'She was a purple with a white stripe in England, before she got suspended. She'd being doing a lot of fitness training before and while she had her arm in the cast, though. Still is. They said she had to start again from the beginning, but after some negotiating with the instructor, they decided to let her go for whatever she's meant to be on. She'll almost definitely pass for brown – 3rd Kyu – tonight.'

The line was thinning out and just as she got her drink, Leah found someone calling her name.

'Leah Stone and Mary Mills? Kit!'

Liam pushed gently her in the direction of the voice. 'You have to get your kit, if you're going to keep coming to classes.'

Leah nodded as she saw a large looking woman poking her head around a door to the side.

When she got in, she saw shelves everywhere. There were white pyjamas, black pyjamas, even red and blue. The woman handed Mary and Leah small white ones.

'Try these on.' Leah pulled them over her shirt and tracksuit. They were rather big. 'Don't worry about it being a bit big. I just need to make sure it will last you a while. Go on, put it on properly. You'll be using it for the next session anyway.'

Leah half-heartedly stepped over to a cubicle on the far side of the room. She quickly changed out of her tracksuit and into the kit.

The lady gave her a nod of satisfaction. 'Good. Which belt are you?'

'Err… white. It's my first day.'

'Okay,' She pulled a white belt out of a box on the top shelf and showed Leah how to tie it around her waist, 'Don't go rolling in the dirt in this. It's just more washing for

your parents.'

Leah nodded slowly and waited for Mary to get her belt – which turned out to white, to her disgust. 'Miss, I'm a purple and white! Why do I have to be a white?'

'You're a white for today, Mary. No more arguments. You can get your brown belt or whatever tonight, but until then you do whatever the other kids in your age group do. We're only bending the rules because your father is so persuasive.'

'But-'

'I said don't argue. In normal circumstances, you would have to start again from white, because you haven't done proper karate classes in six months. Do you want that?'

'No, miss.'

'Then you won't argue.'

'But can't I at least be orange? That's still beginner!'

The lady gave her a look. 'Don't say you made me.' She threw her an orange belt.

'Thanks, miss.'

When they were outside, Mary groaned. 'This is so shameful.' She wailed and looked at Liam. 'Look what they made me wear!'

When he saw her belt, he roared with laughter. 'Mary! You have no idea how funny that is.' He grinned at Leah. 'Nice one. You look like one of us, now.' He smiled.

Just as they finished sipping their water from the break, Instructor Mark arrived with his bell. 'All the beginners get out to the front room!'

Leah saw Mary scowl fiercely again as they walked back out to the beginner's section. 'What?'

'No offence,' Mary sighed, 'But I hate training with the beginners. Trust me, you're the oldest there even though you're as short as everyone else. You can't move up to intermediate until you're a red belt.'

'I'm a white belt. Thanks a lot.'

'I didn't mean to offend you.' Mary said. 'You'd hate it as much as I do if you'd been doing karate for two years and got put back with the kids who can't even back-kick. If you come back home with us afterwards, Liam and I can teach you a few moves.'

'Thanks.' Leah said, as Instructor Mark looked over in their direction.

'Mary! What are you doing in here?'

'They said I'm beginner, sir.'

Mark roared with laughter. 'I've seen the way you fight. Go back in the shop and get your proper belt, then get out the back. I don't want you killing Leah like you killed that girl in your London hole.'

'Sure.' Mary said. Leah could tell she was really pleased. 'Good luck, Leah.'

'Sure.' Leah replied, as she watched her newly found friend disappear out the back. She was starting to like the way Mary always got what she wanted.

_It's funny how my mind works. At night, it's like I've completely switched opinions and I go really psycho. I'm lying in bed, and I know why I feel like this. I'm just plain tired. It's been a long day, what with going to karate and all that. After we finished, I went back with Liam and Mary to their house. It's built on a hill on the outskirts of town, and they've turned their entire garage into a karate practice area. It's awesome, but at the same time boiling. There's no ventilation. They taught me some moves, so hopefully now I can defend myself against Austin and his gang. Anyway, when I'm like this, everything comes rushing back – everything wrong in my life, which, if you haven't noticed, is a lot of stuff. My Dad is always away, which makes me feel just so forgotten. Miss Gardenia is selfish and doesn't care about anybody's feelings but her own. Claire is always too busy with housework to talk to. The other servants are the same. I wish I had a sister, or even a brother. Brothers don't sound too bad, anyway. I just hate always being alone._

It was the last day before Spring break, and everyone was taking it easy. Even Miss Marse, who sat with her feet up on the desk sipping coffee. Ten minutes before the final lesson ended, Liam came running in. He handed Miss Marse a note before crashing into his seat next to Leah.

'You're late.'

Liam had a massive grin on his face. 'You'll never guess what happened!' he said. 'Mum's taking me on a holiday south!'

'Oh. My. Gosh.' Leah squealed, a little too loudly. Miss Marse gave her a disapproving look, while the rest of the class frowned. A few days after the fight, they had realised that Liam wasn't going to leave Leah. They were now known as the "pommies", although Liam usually threatened them if they said it to his face. Nobody bothered about telling her not to make friends anymore and some other girls had actually started being nice, although it had been sort of awkward at first.

Liam gave the class a sarcastic look and lowered his voice. 'I was late because I had no idea what to pack and I got way-laid. I only came back to school because Mum said I can take a friend too.'

Leah's mouth fell open. 'And you want to take me?' Liam nodded eagerly.

'What the hell will Miss Gardenia say… at least she won't be missing anything.'

Liam laughed. 'Anyway, our flight is tonight.'

'Sweet! So… where abouts are we going?'

'Right now, it looks like we're set for Brisbane. You might even see some of your old friends.'

Leah bit her pen. 'I doubt that very much.'

'Why?'

'I actually only had one real friend there – he was rather like you, actually. I remember one day we were sitting in maths. My principal came to the door looking distressed, and asking for him. He gave me a smile, and told me he would be right back. I never saw him again.' Leah said, trying to fight back the tears that were welling up in the back of her eyes.

Liam looked sad too. 'Do you know what happened?'

'Turns out his parents died. He got sent to some care home.'

'At least he's safe, hopefully. That's the main thing.' Liam said. 'Anyway, should be fun if you come.'

The bell rang. Everyone grabbed their books and rushed out, before Miss Marse even had the chance to get out of her seat.

Leah stuffed her books in her bag and threw it over her shoulder. 'Fi-nal-ly!'

'Tell me about it.' Liam said, as they walked down the corridor and out into the open. 'School drives me completely crazy.'

After ringing her dad and making various negotiations with Miss Gardenia, it had been agreed that she could stay in Brisbane with the Mills family for the whole of Spring break.

It was weird being back, though it had been nearly two years. The city was much busier than Rockhampton and everywhere you looked there was some kind of man-made structure. The taxi dropped them off outside a hotel with huge block letters on the doors, which read _The Gattonel Hotel_. Everyone got out with their luggage and made their way through the lobby and into the first lift they saw.

'Wow, this place certainly looks like it needs a little DIY.' Mary said, giving the room a once over.

Their mum looked disapproving. 'They didn't give us much of an offer over the phone.' she said. 'We're going somewhere else on Monday.'

'Cool.' Liam said, as he poked his head into the bedroom. 'Hey, we got triple bunks. That's got to count for something.'

'Bags the top.' Mary yelled. She shoved Liam aside and attempted to chuck her carry bag over the railing. Leah laughed when it came back down on her.

'Ouch.'

Mrs Mills dumped her luggage in the room and announced that she needed sleep, which meant they had to get out and stay out, or turn the volume down to zero.

After reassuring their mum that they would look after each other, Leah, Liam and Mary set off. They didn't need to walk that far to get to the attractions. As soon as you walked out of the hotel, you were looking straight out at the rather brown Brisbane River and an enormous ferris-wheel.

They took a walk through the markets, then rode the wheel and ended up in a pizza place. When they got home, Mr Mills answered the door. It was the first time Leah had met him, since he had flown in on a separate flight. He had soft brown eyes like Liam and his hair was wet from the shower.

'Hi, how was it?'

'Good.' Liam replied. He pushed Mary out of the way so that Leah could be seen. 'This is Leah, my friend I've told you about.'

Mr Mills smiled. 'Nice to meet you.'

'It's a pleasure.' Leah said, but after she said it, she was kicking herself. What kind of twelve year old girl said _it's a pleasure_?' She guessed she was just trying to be polite.

Mary grabbed a packet of crisps from the cupboard and they sat on Liam's bed – the bottom bunk. There wasn't a lot of headspace, so after a while they moved to the floor.

That night, Leah called her Dad to reassure him that everything was okay, before collapsing into bed with the others. She was totally exhausted from all the walking.


	4. Meeting

**Hey there, guys! Sorry about taking such a long time to upload this. I've actually written the whole story now; I'm just editing it and uploading bits at a time. Excuse my mistakes if you find any.**

**I'm really sorry about the random skips between POVs and settings. I can't separate them. So yeah, just ignore them, and read. **

**Hope you enjoy, please Review! (:**

_Brisbane is so totally cool… in case you haven't noticed my excitement yet. Yesterday, we went further south to this theme-park called Dreamworld. Today, we're on the Gold Coast. It's so awesome, because it's got beaches! I've never, ever, _ever_ been to a beach before. Don't laugh, I'm being serious. Dad is just too busy and Miss Gardenia hates it. The waves are like… so cool. So, I guess I've only seen them from a distance. I can't wait to get up close. Anyway, so the theme park rocked. We went on these awesome rides, like the Tower of Terror and the Giant Drop. We also braved the bumper cars – they were like… really scary. (How I live for sarcasm.) I hope today is gonna be as good as yesterday, although with Liam it's gonna rock either way. If you haven't noticed yet, my entry for today is kinda cheerful. It's because I don't really feel depressed anymore. I'm feeling happy, for the first time in years._

The sun streaked down and filled the eyes of the five tourists, lighting up the faces which had been lost in the gloom of the taxi the whole way down. It was a hot day for early September and everyone who was on the beach wore board shorts and singlets.

Leah peeled off her jumper as soon as she got out. 'Sure is hot.'

'Yeah.' Liam said. He looked at Mary. 'Lose the jumper, sis.'

'I'm cold.'

'You've got to be joking!' Liam laughed. 'Don't say I didn't warn you.'

It was a five hundred metre trek up the beach to their apartment. They were on the seventh floor, and this time it was perfect. The morning breeze blew right in on them from the balcony. Leah was soon half asleep on her bed.

'Coke?' Liam asked. Leah hadn't even noticed he was there.

'Thanks.'

'We're going down to the beach now, if you're coming.' He said.

'Sure.' Leah pulled her togs out of her suitcase and headed towards the bathroom. After a moment, she looked back. 'Is Mary still cold?'

Liam nodded. 'She's one strange child.'

The beach was the most beautiful thing Leah had ever seen. The waves looked close to striking you, but then they were smothered down and flowed on like nothing had ever happened. It was the sort of place where you felt you could live on forever. After swimming, they got pizza and ate on the rocks on a random lookout over the ocean. Leah felt like she was living a whole new life.

_-Two weeks later_

The sand was crisp and warm, like your own personal heater. It was their second-last day at the beach – tomorrow they were heading back home for the beginning of fourth term. Hundreds of kids made sand castles and swam in the surf. It was like everything Leah had always wished for.

Liam had looked pretty wowed too, when he'd first seen it. 'Never been to a proper beach.' He'd said. 'Just all stones and pebbles where I came from.'

They found a spot near the life-guard flags and shoved the umbrella in the sand, like always. The view of the ocean would have been nice, if not for a group of rowdy kids playing cricket right in front. There were about ten, mostly boys, but then half a dozen girls came running in and that just about evened it out.

Leah found it freaky how they kept staring at her. It was weird, because it felt like she had this eye magnet on her or something. She didn't even know these people!

She talked to Liam to try and lower the levels of awkwardness, but they wouldn't go away. Leah was starting to wonder if they were kids from her old school. Trouble was, she didn't remember any of them.

After about an hour, two more kids appeared. They looked like they were together from the fact that they were holding hands. The guy had loosely spiked brown hair, and the girl had a very dark brown hair and a huge tan, but it was hard to see her face properly. The other kids swarmed them. It looked like they were pretty popular.

Suddenly, Mary appeared out of nowhere. 'Omigod. Leah, you have no idea what I just saw.'

'What?'

'Oh crap, they're looking!' She flicked her eyes in the direction of the group of kids. Sure enough, every one of them was staring at her, although a most of them looked like they didn't know what was going on.

'Wanna bet they won't go away until Christmas?' Liam mumbled under his breath.

Mary shrugged. 'Probably more like the end of the world. That girl who came in just then with that extremely hot guy looked _exactly_ like you, Leah. Like, I mean _exactly_ exactly. I was about to call out to her to stop talking to paedos when I realised it wasn't you.'

'I can't see her.'

'Yeah, well stand up then, dummy. At least then she can see you.' Mary said. She stood up and offered Leah her hand. 'Wanna bet she's not your twin sister?'

Leah stared at Mary. She'd felt so utterly confused, she hadn't realised what was happening. Until now.

Annie craned her neck so that she could see comfortably over Reece's shoulder. The whole group was buzzing with excitement, although Reece and Lee, and she were the only ones who knew what was _really _going on. Okay, so this girl apparently looked exactly like her, according to the rest of her group who'd swarmed her as soon as she'd got in sight. Now, the girl was being helped up by a really stocky-looking girl who looked like she was bossing people around. Then there was this other guy on the left of her with the craziest but coolest hair she'd ever seen. She didn't look like she'd noticed them, but all of a sudden, she turned around. Annie had a mini-heart attack. If this wasn't her sister, nobody was.

The only difference between them was Annie's heavily tanned body and her rather light one.

'Shoot.' Annie said.

'I guess it has to come out sometime.' Leah said.

'What?' asked Liam.

'I'm adopted. I had a twin sister but we got separated in care. I've never told anyone.'

'Wow, that's awesome.'

'Not when I haven't seen her in nine years.'

Leah felt Liam sigh next to her. 'I hope she's your sister. It might change your life as you know it.'

Leah nodded and looked at the girl. They were so insanely alike. The girl turned to the boy and had said something Leah couldn't hear, but it looked like she'd asked for privacy or something because now he and the other girl were heading off back down the beach. The girl gave Liam and Mary a look, which had a surprising effect. Both of them walked away straight away. Now, it was just her and Leah.

'Okay, so my friends here say that we are like… positively identical.' She said, taking charge of the situation straight away. 'I mean, you see resemblance, right?'

Leah nodded slowly. 'Yeah… I mean, it's like looking in a mirror.

'Okay, okay, okay… lets just clear this up. What's your name?'

'Leah Stone.'

'Shoot…' the girl said again, as she looked away and rubbed her forehead. 'When's your birthday?'

'The 11th of October.'

'Do you have parents?'

'I have foster parents...' Leah said. 'Your name is?'

'Annie... Anna-Beth Seemore.' She gave Leah a look.

'It's just… Oh my gosh!' Leah laughed, pulling Annie into a hug. 'This is so cool!'

Annie hugged her back, but after a few seconds she pulled away. 'So… what's with your accent?'

'Old foster parents and stuff were English. And I dunno, I go over there a lot, since I have relatives there.'

'That's cool.' Annie said. 'Who are these people you're with?'

'That's Liam and his sister Mary – from school.' Leah explained. 'They invited me down here for a tour. We're up north.'

'Wow.' Annie said. 'That's a fair way to come down. I've lived here just about all my life. Been in about ten care homes, five foster families… the one I'm at now I've been in for about a year. I guess it's the only one that can put up with me.'

'So, who are the people you're with?'

Annie led Leah over to where the big group now stood. 'My boyfriend Reece, Lee, Sean, Teesh and Kati.' She said, pointing everyone out. 'Then there're my foster brothers and sisters – Matt, Janet, Alice, Tessa and Joe. I think Jay, Ryan and a few others are still swimming and there're still others back at the house.'

'Nice.' Leah said. She looked back at Liam and Mary, who were staring over and looking like they needed filling in. 'Come here, guys.'

Liam grabbed an apple from the food basket and followed Mary over to the group. He raised his hand. 'Hi I'm Liam.' He received a round of _Heys_ and_ Sups_ back, and Mary got the same when she greeted them. Leah was starting to wonder what it was about some people that made them automatically liked. It would be cool to walk into a room and be liked by everyone. Nice life for some.

A cry erupted from outside the huddle. 'Lost the ball!' A groan rumbled around the circle.

'Again? You're joking.' Matt yelled at nobody in particular. 'That's the last time_ any_ of you guys borrow my stuff.'

'You said that last time.' Joe smirked. 'You always forgive, always forget.'

'I won't this time.'

'You will.'

'Won't.'

'Will.'

'Um, shut up?' Annie rolled her eyes. 'Want to come to seven-eleven, Leah? I need lollies.'

'Sure.' Leah said. They started walking away when Liam called to them.

'Don't take ages, guys. Mum's gonna kill us if we don't come back for lunch.'

'No problem.'

Matt yelled after them, 'Get me a Golden Gaytime? I'm starved.'

'Whatever. You'd better pay me back, though.' Annie yelled back. She looked at Leah. 'Boys…'

'Tell me about it.'

Annie grabbed a bottle of spray-on sun cream and did herself over as they walked back up the beach. 'Oh my God, this is totally the best thing that ever happened in my life!' She finished rubbing and tossed the container back at the towels.

'Yeah, I know.' Leah smiled. 'So weird how we happened to meet right here, hey?'

Annie laughed. 'It's awesome. I feel like I should be jumping around everywhere and being so overly happy, but it feels like I've known you almost my entire life.'

Leah nodded as she jumped the fence bordering the little kids' playground. Parents sat around on the seats surrounding swings and slides, watching young ones closely. A few kids stared, like they couldn't tell the difference between the two girls. It felt weird walking around with someone exactly like you.

'So… is something happening between you and Liam, or is it just me?' Annie asked.

Leah felt herself blush. 'Well… no. Um, you only saw him next to me. How could you possibly see if we had something going? Plus, we've only known each other three months.'

'Hah! That doesn't make a difference. Reece and I started dating two weeks after I moved in.' Annie said. 'But anyway, if you want a boyfriend I can hook you up with someone.'

'I've never had a boyfriend,' Leah frowned. 'But I guess that's where we're different. I don't fancy hooking up with a random guy I don't even like.'

'Are you saying I don't like Reece?' Annie laughed.

'No. I just don't like hooking up with randoms.' Leah grinned. She swung herself around a light post, crashed into an attached council bin and groaned. 'Gross!'

Annie was cracking up. 'Well, Reece and I have been going out for like… roughly a year and a half.'

'I've only ever had one boyfriend.' Leah said. 'We went out for about six months, and we were year _five_. If you ask me, that's a _bloody_ long time for a relationship to last at that age.'

'Deffo.' Annie replied. 'So, there's nothing going on between you and Liam?'

'Not to me.'

'That's not what it looks like!'

Leah looked baffled. 'There's nothing going on!' she insisted.

'His hair is freaking awesome, if you ask me.' Annie grinned wickedly. 'And don't you just melt under that smile.'

'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' Leah huffed. 'We're here anyway.' They walked together through the double sliding doors and selected their choice of goodies. Annie bought a bag of snakes, while Leah grabbed a Gatorade and a Mars Bar. When they got around to the freezer, Annie reluctantly pulled out a Golden Gaytime for Matt.

'He'd better not steal my chocolate anymore.'

'He steals your chocolate?'

'Yeah…' Annie sighed. 'His room is across from mine. He's totally expert at picking locks so even if I bought a dead lock he'd still be in and out in a jiffy.'

'Rough.' Leah sympathised. 'He doesn't look too bad, though.'

'He isn't, just that he's not one bit outspoken.'

After they paid, the two girls started walking back to the beach. It was getting close to lunch.

_I met her! My sister! Annie! I'm so happy, it's like it's too good to be true. And totally random, too. We met on a random beach in a random city. On a random day, on a random trip down south. Definitely random. But I don't care, really. I've found her, and that's all that matters. After we got back to the beach, we bought fish and chips and ate on the rocks. Liam and I got to know loads of Annie's brothers and sisters and her friends that were there. Lee's totally the coolest. She never stops talking, and although it may be a bit annoying to some, the way she does it somehow excludes that. Reece is awesome, too. He's so different to most guys I've met, with the exception of Liam and Jared. Mostly, guys are like, the shallowest beings on the planet. I love it when you meet someone like the few who actually care about your personality. Anyway, I can't help feeling sad about the fact that we're going home tomorrow. We kind of stayed an extra day, so we have to leave really early. All my stuff is packed up, and now it's just me and my bed. I've got Annie's numbers and email and stuff, but it still won't be the same. We were always meant to be close. Right now, we live on opposite sides of the state._

'You ready, Leah?' Mary stuck her head round the door.

'I guess… I don't want to leave.'

'Well, course you don't. She's your twin sister. If I were you, I'd be talking to the foster dudes and asking them to move you two together.'

Leah's face suddenly lit up. 'Omigod, Mary. That's totally the answer. All I have to do is convince my social worker and my foster dad. I'm sure they'll say yes!'

'Yeah, and then you won't be a loner at school and all…'

'Shut up.'

'Whatever… we gotta get out. The reception dudes are getting up Dad 'cause we were meant to be out two hours ago.' Mary said, grabbing Leah's duffle back off the bed. They bolted downstairs and through the lobby. The receptionist at the desk scowled at them and muttered something along the lines of '_Kids…_'

When they got to the car park, their taxi was right out the front.

'Mum said you can drop by and say goodbye to Annie.' Liam smiled. 'If she's actually up.'

Leah shrugged. 'I heard she gets up early to surf, so we might just catch her as she goes.'

'Cool.'

It was a fifteen minute drive to Annie's foster home. When they pulled into the drive, Annie appeared from behind the van parked in the driveway.

'I knew you'd come! I'm gonna miss you so bad!'

'Me too.' Leah sighed. She pulled her sister into a hug. 'We can webcam and stuff, though.'

'Yep.'

'Well, I guess I should go. We'll miss our flight. See you later.'

'Kay.' Leah looked at Annie and saw she was on the verge of tears. 'You know, Leah, I didn't think it would be like this. I thought we would find each other and always be together. Now we're saying goodbye, and I might not see you for months.'

'It'll be okay.' Leah smiled and jumped back in the car. 'Bye!' She tried to sound cool, but she felt like she was about to flood the earth with her tears. She had thought about asking Annie about moving up with her, but she already had a family that loved her. She had a boyfriend who she probably wouldn't want to leave. It would be a radical change for her. Leah sighed as she realised that there was nothing she could do. Only time and the guts to ask her carer would tell. Annie waved as the car pulled out onto the road again.

'See you!'

'Yeah, see you.' Leah smiled sadly and wound the window up as the car drove off down the street. When they turned the corner, Leah looked back and caught the last glimpse of her long-lost sister. She wondered if she would ever see her again.

Leah felt weird as she stepped out of the aeroplane and into the dust at the Rockhampton airport. Other than the fact that she'd met her twin sister, everything felt normal and ordinary. In some ways, it was a peaceful feeling.

'Dude, you there?' Mary was bouncing around her, like always.

'Yeah, just lost in thought.' Leah smiled. 'I should get home, my housekeeper is gonna get up me if I don't turn up and clean my room.'

Liam laughed. 'Shame. We could've hung out for a while, or something. Is she always like this?'

'She's positively evil.'

'Sounds like fun.' He smiled. 'Better go then.'

They walked through the airport and grabbed their luggage off the conveyor belt, before re-acquainting themselves with their car, which had been sitting in the lot for the duration of their trip.

'It's a wonder people don't go around smashing up cars.' Mary said. 'Though I guess our Ford Focus didn't meet their requirements.'

'I guess they had other ideas.' Liam smirked. Their car hadn't been smashed up, but a giant penis had been drawn in the dust on the back window.

Liam's Dad dropped Leah at the bottom of her street, since it was a cul-de-sac. They waved goodbye before driving off and leaving Leah to make her way up the street.

It was only after she had finished waving and the car had disappeared that she heard yelling coming from the top of the street.

There were two police cars parked outside her house, and half the neighbours had come out to see what all the noise was about.

'Oh God…' Leah muttered to herself. She started walking fast.

'Girl, stay away.' A policeman yelled at Leah.

'Don't call me girl!' Leah fumed. 'I live there! What do you think I'm supposed to do?' The policeman turned to his colleague and said something, before turning back to her.

'Do you know what's going on, sweetie?' He asked.

'Don't call me sweetie,' Leah scowled. 'I'm nearly twelve.'

'Well, sweetie,' said the policeman, ignoring Leah's comment, 'your daddy and your housekeeper have been very naughty. We've had to arrest them for suspected murder and theft. As you're in his care, you might want to think about that.'

'He's not my dad. He's my _foster_ dad.'

'He is, is he? Well… I'm going to have to ask you to step over to the lady over there. She'll take you somewhere safe.'

Leah groaned as she realised what this meant. She was going back to a care home. Away from Liam and Mary and the kids who had started being nice at school. It was always like this: just as she started to fit in at school, she had to move again. She wouldn't be able to go to karate anymore. She wouldn't be in a nice house with a nice room anymore. Her life was about to get _much_ worse. Suddenly, fitting in at school looked like the worst of her worries.

Leah hadn't been in a care home for years. It had always just been one foster home after another. Being back in care brought back bad memories.

One of the house parents was giving her a tour of the whole place, but Leah was lost in her own thoughts.

'Leah?'

'Yeah? Wait… what?'

'Did you hear what I just said?'

'Um, sorry.' Leah said, apologetically. 'I was lost in thought.'

'This is your room and you'll be sharing with Jackie. If you have any other questions, don't be afraid to ask.' The house parent bustled off down the corridor and left Leah alone to unpack.

Leah dumped her collection of suitcases inside the door and studied the room. It was large, but only half the size of the room she was used to. The girl, 'Jackie', slept on one side and there was a spare bed on the other side for a new resident. She noticed that Jackie had put up loads of drawings on her wall. The drawings were fabulous. It was like looking at a photograph that had been edited to look like a sketch.

Leah glanced back at her own side. There was a small bed, a desk, a wardrobe and a small chest of drawers. Next to the bed was a tiny locker, obviously meant to store items of value.

She started to unpack all her stuff, but only got as far as the clothes before she realised that it was going to take forever. She had brought in way more stuff than most kids would and doubted that it would all fit in.

Leah tossed her bags into the corner and remembered that in all the commotion, she'd forgotten all about Liam. She dug around in her bag until she found her mobile, found _Liam Mills_ in the directory and dialled his number.

'Come on, pick up!' Leah muttered, settling back down onto her bed.

'Hey, Leah.' Liam's cheerful voice broke over the line.

'I'm back in care. So I'm probably moving schools. And cities. Maybe even countries!' She said it so fast it was all out in about two seconds. There was a silence at the other end.

'Huh?'

'Father and Gardenia got arrested. They took me away to some home. I'm not sure where I am, I was too tired to read the road signs…'

'Oh, man.' Liam sighed. 'I wish I could come out to see you, maybe I can come tomorrow. Just ask the house parents where you are and text me the details.'

'Okay.' Leah said. 'Battery is nearly dead, better go. Bye!'

Leah hung up and collapsed into the bed covers, wondering how long she would be stuck here before they found her another foster home. Right now, it seemed as if it was going to take years.

The kids started coming in from school at around half past three, though nobody came into Leah's room until almost four. A tall dark-haired figure appeared at the door, and Leah instantly thought she was some kind of house parent. It was only when she actually took a proper look that she realised the girl was wearing a blazer and school tie.

Jackie had brown hair and green eyes, but all the comparison ended there. Where Leah was short, Jackie was incredibly tall. Leah was untidy and Jackie looked a perfectionist. Leah was girly and expressive. Jackie was plain.

Jackie placed a leather satchel gently down on her bed, before glancing over at Leah and looking her up and down.

'You're the new person?'

'Just arrived this-morning.' Leah shrugged. 'I'm Leah.'

'I'm Jacqueline.' Jackie said, with a twinge of American accent. 'But please call me Jackie.'

'Sure.' Leah shrugged. She didn't like the look of this girl, but at least it was someone to talk to.

'How come you're here?' Jackie asked.

'My foster father was arrested.'

Jackie looked shocked. '_Arrested_? Gee, that's a shame.'

'Totally.'

'What year are you at school? I was told I had to find you a uniform and stuff.'

'I'm year six.' Leah said, trying to ignore the girl's surprise. 'Don't diss my height.'

'Sorry.' Jackie said, frowning. 'I had you pegged as a year four. I should stop judging people by their stages in personal development. I guess you just haven't had that spurt yet. Don't worry. You'll get there.'

Leah looked annoyed and rolled over to face the wall. Talk about exasperating. This girl was worse at complimenting that Miss Gardenia.

Leah awoke to see Jackie's hand on her shoulder, shaking her. 'Come on, it's dinner time. I bet you're hungry.'

Leah followed Jackie down to the dining hall. Everyone seemed to belong to a group, and Leah once again felt the lost feeling of not belonging anywhere. Jackie took her over to a group of kids who looked about year five to seven.

'Just go and sit with them.' Jackie said. 'Look confident and they'll accept you.'

Leah was slightly annoyed that Jackie hadn't taken the trouble to introduce her beforehand. Jackie disappeared to a table in the far corner. Leah was left standing in the middle of the dining-room with a heavy tray looking like an idiot. After a slight hesitation, she decided to introduce herself.

'Hey… mind if I sit here?' Leah started to sit down next to a tall girl with nice-looking hair, but the girl gave her a weird look.

'Um… the little kids table is over there.' She said, before turning back to her food.

'Um… I'm not a "kid".' said Leah, boldly, pulling air quotes as she said it. 'And judging by your Junior School graduates shirt, I'm older than you.'

The girl was wearing her school polo-shirt with _Year Five 2010_ printed on the back, along with all the names of the students. She scowled at Leah, knowing that she'd been beaten, but still reluctant to admit it. The rest of the table realised what had happened and started laughing.

'Ha! Beaten by a shortie, Chloe!' One girl yelled. She beckoned to Leah. 'Come sit over here.'

Leah smiled and moved around the table to the other free spot. 'Thanks.'

'So how old are you, really?' The girl asked. 'I'm Laura, by the way.'

'Twelve.' Leah smiled. 'I'm Leah.'

'Wow.' Laura laughed. 'Well, congrats on making Chloe look like an idiot. She's been asking for something like that all year.'


	5. Trouble

**Ohai everyone. Thanks for reviewing, those who did. Here's the next chapter!**

**I have practically no time so it's taken a while. Please tell me what you think! It only takes two seconds. (:**

**I've kind of stopped the Diary entries because I can't be bothered. Please tell me if you want me to keep them going, though.**

**Thanks for reading my story so far. Please keep reading, and remember to review!**

**- Charli**

**-Leah**

Leah awoke in a strange bed, in a strange room. For a minute she thought that her father's arrest had all been a dream and she was still on holidays with Liam in some hotel. Her second thoughts were that they had moved her to a new foster home overnight. Then she thought that maybe she had been moved away to her own room because the house parents had thought Jackie had been a bad influence on her.

When she sat up, Leah realised that the room was high up. A quick glance at an alarm clock on the bedside table told her that it was past ten in the morning. She didn't normally sleep this late but from what she could remember, she'd been up late the night before talking with Laura and everyone else and presumed that whoever was looking after her wouldn't mind her sleeping in.

The room was large with a big window that overlooked trees, trees and more trees. Out of the bathroom window, she could just catch a glimpse of a tennis court and a few random buildings.

Around the room, there was a small sink, a kettle, microwave and a miniature fridge. There was also a wall-mounted TV and a large desk with all the latest computer equipment. Whatever foster home this was, it looked pretty cool.

There was a clean set of clothes on the floor. On examining them, Leah realised that they were fairly military-styled, with khaki trousers, boots and an orange t-shirt.

Leah quickly got changed and, keen to find out where she was, opened the door and stepped out into the corridor.

Nobody was around at all and Leah came to the conclusion that they were all at school. The window at the end of the passage had a much bigger view than her bedroom, and Leah realised that she must be somewhere pretty elite. She could see an athletics track, more tennis courts, a large Japanese-style building and a large banana-shaped structure. There were also playing fields and a large building that looked like a gym. The area looked like it stretched on forever.

Leah heard a sound behind her and turned instinctively. A girl of about fifteen was struggling with her keys and books. She noticed that the girl wore a navy shirt, rather than orange. 'Hey… can you help me?'

'Sorry, can't talk to orange.' The girl said.

Leah felt the familiar feeling of rejection coming back. 'Don't you want some help? You look like you're about to drop those.'

The girl sighed. 'Yeah, thanks.' She passed the load of books to Leah and unlocked the door. 'Go down the lift.'

'Thanks,' Leah said, as she gave back the load. She hurried off to the lift and pressed down, like the girl had said.

After about half a minute, the doors opened up to reveal a reception area as a mechanical voice announced her arrival. Leah figured the reception lady would think it rude to ignore her, so she went right up to her and tried to sound reasonably confident.

'Hi, where am I supposed to go?'

The receptionist looked up. 'Good morning, Leah. Doctor McAfferty will only be a minute. Just take a seat and he'll call me when he's ready.'

Leah nodded and sat down, but it was only about ten seconds before the receptionist beckoned to her.

'He's ready now.' She led Leah down a long corridor to a large door near the end.

Leah felt awkward and wondered if she was supposed to knock. Just to be on the safe side, she rapped three times.

The voice that answered reminded her of her uncle up in Scotland. 'Come in.'

Leah opened the door slowly and went in. The room was massive, with bookshelves everywhere and huge floor-to-ceiling windows.

'Welcome, Leah. Have a seat.'

Leah sat down. 'Where am I?'

Doctor McAfferty smiled. 'You're in the England, more specifically Cherub Campus. We are an organisation who use children as spies.'

Leah went silent for a moment. 'So… you take children away from their homes and use them? To catch criminals?'

'Precisely,' said McAfferty, 'Except I can assure you that every kid here was taken from a care home. Nobody here has parents or relatives, apart from siblings of course.'

'Wow, Doctor. And you want me to join?'

'Exactly. You can just call me Mac, by the way.'

'Sure, but why do you want me?'

'You're intelligent, speak two languages and you're reasonably fit. You're also not afraid of what others think of you and can stand on your own two feet when under stress.'

'How'd you know all that about me!' Leah felt shocked.

'Before we pick an agent, we survey their everyday lives.'

'You've been watching me?'

'More or less.' Mac smiled. 'Anyway, before you join you'll have to take some tests. Then you can go back to your home and decide whether you want to join us.'

'Right.'

'The test is split into five parts and will last the rest of the day. You up for it?'

'Sure.'

The cab dropped Leah off at the care home at ten o'clock. She was starting to wonder what the house parents would be saying when they realised she'd been gone for nearly three days.

Surprisingly, nobody said anything. It wasn't until after eleven that a house parent found her asleep on her bed.

'Leah! Where on earth have you been?'

Leah groaned. 'Huh?'

'I said, "Where on earth have you been?"! It's been nearly three days since we've seen you!'

'I want to sleep. Go away.'

'Don't speak to me like that, Leah. Where have you been?'

'Oh, you care? That's got to be the first time ever.'

'Excuse me?' The house parent enquired.

Leah realised she shouldn't have seen anything. She scowled.

'I'll be reporting you to your social worker. It's unacceptable to speak to a house parent like that!' She dumped a bag on the end of the bed. 'You were meant to start school today, and we still expect you to. Get your uniform on. There's a packed lunch in there too, and a few exercise books. There's another kid waiting outside for you. He'll show you the way.'

'Are you serious?' Leah growled.

'Do I look like I'm joking?' The house parent asked. 'Get dressed and get out. If you're rude again, I'm going to start docking your pocket money and privileges.'

She walked out. Leah growled again and sat up. School wouldn't be too bad, at least. It was only for a few days, anyway. She'd be moving to CHERUB pretty soon.

She donned her uniform and found a decent bag to carry her lunch and books in.

There was a kid waiting outside for her, just as the house parent had said.

'Hey, I'm Josh.' the kid said. 'I'm meant to show you the way.'

'I'm Leah,' Leah said. 'Hi.'

'So, how come you're up so late?'

Leah shrugged, quietly scrambling for an excuse. 'I went to stay with a friend last night.' She hoped he'd buy it.

'Oh sweet, sounds fun.'

They walked in silence to the school.

'Your form is over there, in room twelve.' Josh said. 'I'll be in room ten if you need anything.'

Leah nodded. She wouldn't be going back to him to ask for help, of course, but it was nice knowing someone cared. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and opened the door.

The teacher looked up at her. 'Hello there, Leah. You're late.'

Leah gave a small shrug and sat down at the nearest desk.

'Well, class, this is Leah. She's just moved into the care home down the road, so please make her feel welcome.'

The kids glanced over at her, some smiling, and some scowling. It was pretty much the same at any school. Nobody seemed to care.

_Well, thanks just so much, teacher, for mentioning that I'm in care. Thanks a million. I'll only be here a few days, but you still suck for saying so._

_Well, I suppose I'll be a loner for the next few days. Not that I really care. Actually, I think I'll make the most of it and be as bad as I possibly can. I doubt I'll get that sort of freedom at CHERUB, anyway. Who knows, maybe being a badass will earn me 'points' or something. Blahh._

_Anyway, this class we're in is really, really boring. It's maths. Oh joy._

_I'm sitting next to this nerdy-ish girl. She's trying to read what I'm writing which is kind of stalker-ish, don't you think?_

_Oh gosh, I can't wait until this class ends._

The kids streamed out of class as soon as the bell rang. Leah went out slowly; she was jet-lagged and felt like she was about to collapse.

'Hi there, Welcome to Lakes Creek high.' Leah realised there was someone speaking to her.

'Oh, hey.' Leah replied, looking up at the person. She was pale, but her hair was dyed black with a bright orange streak through it. 'Nice hair.'

'Thanks.' the girl smiled. 'I'm Alex.'

'Leah.'

'Want me to show you around, or something? It's a pretty big school.'

'Thanks.'

Alex led her through the crowds and out to the playground. 'So, how come you're in care?'

'Just came out of a foster home.' Leah replied. She decided not to mention about her parents and sister. Just the thought of Annie gave her a lump in her throat.

'Oh, right.' Alex said. They were approaching a large group of kids sheltered in the far corner. 'These are my friends.'

'Cool.'

Alex introduced her. 'Guys, this is Leah. She's new.'

There was a round of nods in her direction. Leah felt awkward as she sat down on a bench with Alex. She hated crowds of people; she wasn't used to everyone talking to her and acting friendly. All her life, she'd been the outsider.

Leah strolled into her room and dumped her bag on the floor. She'd only just sat down when there was a knock at the door. A house parent was there, and Leah was surprised to see Liam's mum standing behind her.

'Hi, Mrs Mills.'

'Hi, Leah. Get your things, you're to stay the night with us.'

'Really?' Leah grinned. 'Cool, thanks.'

'It's my pleasure. Liam has a few things to tell you, so we decided to set this up.'

Leah sat in the back seat of the Mills' car, pondering. She wondered what Liam had to tell her. But she was worried about getting to CHERUB. How would they know where she was? Maybe they'd follow her. Creepy.

After about twenty minutes, they pulled into the Mills' driveway. Mary and Liam were already waiting.

'Took a while,' Mary smiled, opening the door for Leah.

'Only just got back from school. Had to pack all my stuff up and everything.'

'Oh okay, no problem.'

Leah turned to Liam. 'You had something to tell me?'

'Oh, sure.' She realised he was getting fidgety. This must be pretty significant news.

'We'll leave you to it.' Mrs Mills smiled. She and Mary disappeared inside the house with the bags.

Leah felt awkward.

'So, do you want to take a walk?' she asked.

'Sure.'

'What is it you were gonna say?'

'It's pretty long, actually. I guess I should start at the beginning.' Liam said. 'You're being recruited to CHERUB, right?'

Leah was speechless. 'Uh…'

'Sorry if I freaked you out there.' Liam said. 'I… I really don't know how to put this.'

'You're a cherub?' Leah gasped. 'What… how…?'

Liam sighed. 'Yes,' Leah noticed he sounded different. His Newcastle accent he'd spoken with was gone and now he spoke with a rather thick London accent. 'They recruited me a few years ago after my parents died. I've been here on a mission for the past few weeks. Since you didn't appear to have family ties, we thought you'd be a good recruit for when we busted your foster dad and that menacing housekeeper. That was the mission for me, anyway.

'We took the holiday down south with you so that MI5 could access your home without suspicion, since Miss Gardenia was away. It was totally by chance that we met your sister.'

'Wow.' Leah was listening to this whole story, totally rapt.

'Anyway, they decided take you in for tests when we got back. And now you're coming back with us!'

'I…' Leah's mouth hung open. 'I guess that explains why your accent just radically changed.'

Liam laughed. 'The world is full of surprises. But do you know why I chose to go on this mission?'

'Why?'

'A long time ago, before I was recruited, I had a best friend. The best friend I ever had.' He smiled. 'But I never got to say good-bye to her. As soon as I received news about my parents' death, I was told to leave town immediately. I've always dreamed of the day I could meet her again.'

He took a deep breath and laid his hands on her shoulders. 'Leah, that girl was you.'

Leah looked confused. 'Huh?'

'I'm not 'Liam',' he smirked and held out his hand. 'The name's Jared.'

Leah stared up at him. 'Oh my g- …wait, are you serious?'

He was laughing now, 'Do I look like I'm kidding?'

'So you came on this mission to see me?'

'That was more or less the intention.' he shrugged. 'I kind of wanted to apologise. For leaving you. You know… without saying goodbye.'

Leah felt a rush of emotion and pulled him into a hug. 'I've missed you.'

'Jared' smiled. 'Me too.'

- **Annie**

Annie, Lee and the rest of the gang sat on the back fence of the local oval, chatting and moaning about their lives. It was Friday night, and although she was with all her friends, Annie wasn't happy.

It was Little Athletics night. It wasn't that she didn't like athletics. She was stuck in under twelves, without Reece.

Lee was with her, but she had Sean. Things were different than what they used to be.

Kati and Jay were already heading over, so everyone started following. Lee and Sean sprinted off. Annie ran to catch up with them.

'Hey,' she waved as she got close.

'Yo,' Lee smiled. 'Did you remember dinner money? I forgot mine; I was hoping I could borrow off you.'

Annie shrugged. 'Sure, just pay me back.'

Lee gave her a hug. 'Thanks,'

They were rather late. Dozens of kids swarmed them as they got close. The five and six-year-olds from the 'Tiny Tots' age group were screaming about, whilst mothers tried to calm them down. A line was rapidly growing at the sign-on desk.

'Heya,' Bradlee sidled up next her. 'How's it going?'

'Oh, the usual – crap. I hate being in twelves,' growled Annie.

Bradlee smirked. 'Yeah, well, thirteens isn't much better. I don't even like Athletics, but mum makes me come.'

'So does mine, though I could probably get out of it pretty easily if I wanted to,'

'Then why don't you?'

Annie shrugged. 'Nothing else to do. It's boring at home when everyone else is out here.'

Bradlee leant down and wrote both of their names on the sign-on sheet.

'Well, should get going now. My leader gets mad if I'm late.'

'Bye,' Annie waved and headed over to Lee and Sean. They both smiled and slapped high-fives.

'Life?' Lee asked. It was the usual greeting these days. It had started out with "How's life going?" then it'd been shortened to, "How's life?" Now it was just the one word.

Annie grunted. 'Reasonably okay,'

'Coolies, same.' Lee smiled, then rolled her eyes when she realised their leader, Sally, was yelling at them. 'Better get going.'

The first session was high-jump. Definitely not Annie's specialty. Lee, however, was a rising star and jumped way higher than everyone else. Normally Annie didn't stress over being short. Now it was getting to her.

Kati and Jay huddled underneath a tree in the far corner, deliberately missing their turns.

After what seemed like ages, they finished and were free to do as they wished until the session ended and they moved on to the next event. Naturally, Annie moved straight over to under thirteens.

The thirteens sat in a group in the middle of the oval, yelling over a game of Mexican snap.

Reece smiled and waved. 'Hey,' He gave her a hug and moved over to make space. 'What'd you have?'

'High-jump,' said Annie, grabbing her card pile. She noticed that Bethany wasn't there. Probably talking to her mum. 'You?'

'Hurdles,' Reece said.

'Sounds fun,'

A bell sounded suddenly and a groan rumbled around the circle. Everyone started getting up and heading off to their next event.

'Need to go, I guess. See you,' Reece smiled and hugged her, before departing back over in the direction of the discus nets.

Annie looked around for Lee but couldn't see her anywhere. She spotted Sean, however, sitting in the shadows with his coke.

'Where's Lee?'

Sean looked up at her. 'I was wondering the same thing myself,' His green eyes sparkled in the moonlight and his hair looked close to black from the darkness.

'You like her, don't you.'

There was a long, rather awkward silence. 'Yeah,' he admitted.

Annie laughed and sat down next to him. 'Ask her out, then?'

'She wouldn't like me in that way.'

'Says who?'

There was another silence. Finally, Sean spoke again. 'She just wouldn't. It wouldn't work.' He looked away. 'I really like her, Annie. But we've been friends so long and I can't really imagine dating her. Not yet, anyway.

'We're too young. If we start now, it's gonna get all messed up. I know, I know, you've been going out with Reece practically since the beginning of time. But that's where you guys are different. You're more mature and you know how to handle things.'

Annie sighed. 'I guess,'

They sat in silence once again. Annie was used to it; Sean didn't talk much. He normally kept to himself, unless Lee was around and or he had a good topic of conversation to contribute to.

After a few minutes, Lee appeared out of nowhere. Sean went bright pink when he realised she'd probably heard bits of their conversation. 'What secrets are you two sharing in this extremely dark and private area?' she inquired.

Annie smirked. 'Oh, you know. Stuff...'

'Sally said we have a free session.'

'Sweet,' Sean eased himself up. 'I'm gonna grab some dinner, coming?'

'Sure,' Lee said. She grinned at Annie and held out her hand. 'Pay-ya.'

Annie laughed and dug around in her bag for her purse. 'Pay-me.'

Lee and Sean went off together, and Annie headed back over to the nets to see Reece. She was disappointed to see that he'd gone off somewhere.

'Looking for Reece?' said a voice behind her.

Annie turned around to see Bradlee, leaning against a light-post. 'Sure.'

'He went off somewhere... should be back soon.' He pulled a packet of mixed lollies out of his pocket. 'Want some?'

'Thanks,' Annie crashed next to him. She frowned. 'Where the hell is Bethany? I haven't seen her since sign-on.'

'She was here before, but then she disappeared again. To put more make-up on, knowing her.'

'Mm,' Annie nodded. 'Let's go buy food, I'm starved.'

The canteen was crowded. They passed their orders onto Lee, who was at the front of the line, to avoid waiting.

Once they were outside, Annie excused herself to go to the bathroom. She'd thought she would find Bethany inside, carefully applying her make-up, but the place was deserted.

She re-did her hair and washed her hands, trying to get as much of the grit off as possible. She was about to head off when she heard voices. It appeared to be coming from the back wall of one of the cubicles. Curious, Annie stepped inside and pressed her ear onto the cold metal.

'You idiot, why did you take so long?' a girl growled. 'They're bound to notice we're gone sooner or later!'

The other probably said something back, but their voice was inaudible.

The first voice cut in again. 'I thought you said you dumped her! You have to choose one of us. You can't two-time, loser.'

The other person sighed. This time, she could just make out the words. 'I pick you,'

The girl giggled and something thumped and shuffled against the wall.

Annie glanced outside and noticed Lee, Sean and Bradlee looking for her. Quickly, she dived out of the bathroom and rounded the corner to the back of the toilets, hoping to catch the two out. What she saw made her heart stop.

By now, Lee had spotted her and was running over. 'Dude, what's wrong? You look so-' she stopped short when she saw what was happening. 'Oh God.'

Reece shoved Bethany away like she was made of molten metal.

Annie felt fury burning through her. 'You cheating son of a-'

'It wasn't how it looked!' Reece protested.

'How long as this been going on?' Lee demanded.

Reece opened his mouth to speak, but Bethany's stuck-up voice got in before him. 'About two months.'

'What the hell?' Annie gasped. Lee put her arm around her and she burst into tears.

'You, _mate_, need to watch it.' Bradlee growled and gave Reece a shove. 'Need I remind you that I know taekwondo? You mess up my best friend, I mess up you.'

Reece didn't even look at him. Instead, he looked at the ground. Bethany was humming innocently in the background and Annie longed to run over and slap her senseless. But there wasn't any point now. In Lee's arms, she realised that yelling and slapping wasn't going to get her anywhere. But even on that note, she couldn't stop crying. The guy she'd been so in love with and so faithful to for the past year and a half didn't love her anymore.

**Annie.**

Annie deliberately slept in so she didn't have to walk to school with Reece. This meant she was late, but after all the crap that had happened to her over the past three days, she didn't care.

Annie walked through the open classroom door, trying to ignore the stares and whispers. There was no doubt that Friday evening's events were spread throughout the whole school now.

The teacher frowned. 'Why are you arriving at school at half past eleven?'

Annie shrugged and sat down.

'Do I get an explanation?' The teacher was in a bad mood, she could tell. Might as well throw fuel on the fire.

Annie shrugged. 'Guess not.' The class smirked.

'Anna-Beth Seemore, stand up! I'm sick of your behaviour!' Miss Giblet snapped. 'Every morning you are late for class. You're rude. You never pay attention. You've been to god-knows how many lectures about this, and nothing is improving. Get over to Principal Gresham's office, this instant!'

The class went quiet. Everyone knew Miss Giblet when she was in one of her moods and didn't dare to say a word. Annie slowly rose from her seat. Bethany smirked in the seat next to her.

'Bethany Spark, quit it unless you want to join her.'

Annie gave her the finger and walked out.

She wasn't worried. Just angry that Miss Giblet wouldn't leave her alone and even more angry at Bethany.

She felt a twinge of guilt as she knocked on Principal Gresham's door. She'd been in this position far too many times before. Sooner or later, things were going to get much worse than just a scolding.

Gresham looked up as Annie entered the office.

'Annie, take a seat,' he sighed. 'Now tell me, why has Miss Giblet sent you to me?'

'I was late.' Annie replied.

'Why were you late?'

'I was sleeping,'

The principal settled down into his chair and shifted his glasses. 'You are late far too often, Annie. Lateness doesn't look good on your record, let me tell you. If you don't start clearing your act up, you're going to have a lot of problems later on in life. If you want to sleep, you should go to bed earlier so you can get to school on time.'

'Okay.'

'Annie, 'okay' isn't a good enough answer, I'm afraid. I've called your Mum; I need to have a chat to her.'

Annie froze. A chat? Surely lateness wasn't that bad! What would he say to her mum? Would she be suspended? Again? All she knew was that the fact that Gresham had rung her mum was bad news.

Annie had to sit out in the corridor when her mum went in. Mrs Sanders had given her a look when she passed. It was the sort of fed-up, disappointed look you get from most mothers when their little darling hasn't been behaving themselves.

They were in there for ages. Annie was starting to get fidgety and was just considering running down the corridor to the toilet to text Lee when the door opened.

'Come in.' Gresham gave her a serious look.

Annie took a seat next to her mum and tried to compose herself.

'Anna-Beth, I've had a long chat with your mother over your behaviour. You know it's unacceptable, and the staff and myself here have done all that we can to help you to improve.' Mr Gresham sighed. 'We've decided that we can't any more. You are a continuous bad example toward the rest of the school, especially the juniors.

'Being a very popular person, I believe, most of the lower school look up to you. We can't have them turning into what you are. I'm very sorry to say this, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave Palm Hill College.'

Annie stared at him. 'Wha-'

'Yes.' The principal cut her off. He picked up a sheet of paper from his desk and read from it. 'The first day you were here, you were caught making out with a boy from _another school _behind the auditorium. Whenever a junior gets into trouble, quite often they blame you for 'teaching' them. You've been suspended seven times, mostly over bunking off and being _late._

'I've had far too many complaints about your rudeness in class, and you're probably the most disobedient child ever to come here. That's enough, in my opinion. You can consider yourself expelled.'

Annie sat, frozen to the spot. Expelled? What the hell? Since when were people expelled for being late?

Mrs Sanders sighed in the seat next to her, and picked up her bag. 'I need to get you off the grounds straight away. I'm really sorry to say this, Annie, but I'm also going to have to send you away...'

Annie stared at her. 'What?'

'There are no other schools within safe walking distance, I'm afraid,' Gresham cut in. 'You'll have to go back into care until they find you another home.'

Annie thought about it. To be honest, it seemed like an okay deal, since she wouldn't have to see Reece or Bethany again. 'Can I at least say good-bye to Lee and everyone else?'

Mrs Sanders shrugged. 'Sure, but be quick.'

Annie got up and ran back to her classroom. She felt like she was about to cry, despite being able to escape Reece and Bethany. Palm Hill was her home. It was where her friends were. Where everything she knew was. Living elsewhere would be a massive change.

She reached the door and knocked. Miss Giblet gave her a look.

'Can I please speak to Lee, Sean and Bradlee? Outside?'

Miss Giblet frowned, but seeing the look on Annie's face, she guessed immediately what had happened and nodded. 'Be quick,'

The three filed out, looking rather surprised. Annie closed the door and led them out of earshot.

'They expelled me. There are no other close schools. I have to move.'

Lee's mouth fell open and for a minute Annie thought she was going to run off.

'We can still meet sometime, I guess. I just wanted to tell you before I go.'

Lee tried to speak but couldn't. Annie hadn't experienced friends moving away before, so she didn't know how she felt. But she could imagine how sad it must be. She pulled her into a hug.

'Don't worry, it'll be okay,'

Lee found her voice. 'Ann, you're an amazing friend. I'll never forget you,' she smiled.

Bradlee and Sean tugged at Lee's shirt, 'Move off, we need our hugs too,' Bradlee grinned. He gave Annie a hug. 'Miss you, girl,'

'Thanks Brad,' Annie smiled. 'Miss you, too,' Sean moved in and gave his hug, and then they sat on the bag racks and talked, since none of them felt like leaving. Lee was in a state, but she didn't want anyone to see.

Sean was the only one who noticed. He put his arm around her, rather self-consciously. She smiled. Annie grinned.

'Well, better get going. I'll probably leave early tomorrow, so I'll come by before I go. Leave your windows open,'

The three nodded, and said their last goodbyes. Then Annie set off down the corridor, trying to hide her tears. She might never see them again.


End file.
